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10-10-2011, 07:53 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Palo Alto, CA | | | Using an amp without a cab?
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Hi,
I'm just curious if there could possibly be any negative effects to using an amp head without a cab. I'm looking at getting a GK MB Fusion soon, and saving up for a couple of the nice cabs later on--in the meantime, I know of a couple cabs I can borrow for gigs. However, while I have the head at home, I'd like to use it for home recording with my laptop. I remember hearing it mentioned somewhere that this is not a good practice, but I'm not sure why that would be/if it is really true.
If anyone could shed some light on this for me, that would be great. Thanks!
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10-10-2011, 07:59 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Columbus, OH | | | solid stage amp Its fine... |
10-10-2011, 08:00 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Nude Zealand | | | Check the manual (probably available on line), but in general, there is no need to connect a solid state power amplifier to a speaker load. This is not the case for a tube-based power amplifier, which must have a load attached unless you want to see a Higgs' boson. Just for the record, tubes in the preamp (as in the Fusion) do not count in this regard.
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10-10-2011, 08:11 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: boston, ma | | The important factor is the presence or absence of an output transformer. There are some solid-state amps that employ output transformers, but they are very rare ( Warwick Jonas Hellborg power amp is the only one I can think of). Absent an output transformer, you should be good to play without a load connected.
Last edited by coreyfyfe : 10-10-2011 at 08:13 PM.
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10-10-2011, 08:37 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Columbus, OH | | | Manual says it is fine... |
10-12-2011, 12:45 PM
| | | | I'm not a tech guy but I heard that it's better to turn down the master volume completely when using a solid state amp without load. It should not affect the volume of the DI-signal.
cya
ralf
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10-12-2011, 12:49 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Michigan | | | shuttle / streamliner ... I use mine with headphones and no can 90% of the time. |
10-12-2011, 12:57 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: boston, ma | | Quote:
Originally Posted by skull73  I'm not a tech guy but I heard that it's better to turn down the master volume completely when using a solid state amp without load. | Not necessary. |
10-12-2011, 03:21 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Vancouver | | | For clarification sake, hybrid amps w/ tube pres are fine too. The other example of hybrid w/ tube output was one of the earlier Musicman amps. |
10-12-2011, 08:16 PM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by coreyfyfe The important factor is the presence or absence of an output transformer. There are some solid-state amps that employ output transformers, but they are very rare ( Warwick Jonas Hellborg power amp is the only one I can think of). Absent an output transformer, you should be good to play without a load connected. | Read the manual, it's just the opposite of what you say. http://www.warwick.de/media/manuals/.../JH-MANUAL.pdf
It's still a solid state amp, and it's probably 4 ohm rated output. Speculating, At 4 ohm setting it'd be 1-1 ratio. Switching it to 2 or 16 ohms would reflect 4 ohms on the amp side. You could switch it to 2, and put on a 16 ohm load only with reduced output. You can't switch it to 16 and use a 2 ohm cabinet because only half an ohm would present to the amp.
Another white box designed amplifier. Hellborg thought the transformer was the magic, but all the ear tuning by the Warwik engineers for Hellborg's ears is the real magic.
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10-12-2011, 08:41 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: boston, ma | | Quote:
Originally Posted by seamonkey | Seems to agree with me, according to this: 
and this: 
clearly showing the transformers in the block diagram. |
10-12-2011, 09:46 PM
| | | | Page 17
"Never connect speaker cabinets with lower load as in the selected position is labelled on the amplifier. This will
result in over heating of the amplifier and shutting down into protection mode."
And points out it has protection mode. Which makes it pretty much foolproof.
Transformers in the path doesn't really mean anything. If they're low impedance on the input and output, that's just what they are. A tube amp has a problem because the output impedance is low, and input is high. It reflects much higher to infinity when there's no output. SS can handle high infinite impedance's fine. And they have protection mode for over-current situations.
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10-13-2011, 04:23 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: boston, ma | | It also says to connect speaker loads prior to powering on to avoid damages. 
Considering this is a power amp with no headphone or direct out, I doubt it was designed for what the OP is looking to do either way so the whole thing is irrelevant. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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